Union says program undermines country schools

The State School Teachers Union (SSTU) of Western Australia says regional schools will find it harder to attract teachers if plans to further decentralise the education system go ahead.

The Government's Independent Public School (IPS) program gives schools greater autonomy to select staff and manage their own financial affairs.

The Government says there will be 255 schools in the program by 2013.

SSTU president Anne Gisborne says the move undermines a program designed to attract young teachers to country areas.

"I think what it will mean over time, certainly we have in our agreement, elements to attract and retain people into country and rural and remote areas," she said.

"Those guarantees about people going out and doing two and three and four years of service, and then after that being able to get a place back into the metropolitan area, are ones that are being undermined.

"We may find that teachers are not prepared to go out into rural and remote areas because they're not able to be guaranteed a return after good service back into the metropolitan area or big regional areas.

"The reason this is, is because currently as it operates the department cannot actually direct staffing into IPS schools."

However, the Education Minister Peter Collier has dismissed the comments.

He says the auditor-general's report found the centralised system fails to ensure schools have the most suitable teachers to meet their needs.

Mr Collier says the older system means teachers can abandon a regional school after three years and be guaranteed a position in Perth, to which they may not be suited.